Stretching and drying device



Sept. 2, 1947.

s. w. JOHNSON STRETCHING AND DRYING DEVICE Filed Jan. 11, 1946 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ozone: w. JOHNSON BY ATTORNEYS Sept. '2, 1947.5, w, JOHNSON STRETCHING AND DRYING DEVICE Filed Jan. 11,' 1946 2Sheets-Sheet 2 OM OM hN N INVENTOR GEORGE W. JOHNSON BY M law/ ATTORNEYSPatented Sept. 2, 1947 UNITED ES OF STRETCHING] AND DRYING DEVICE GeorgeJohnson, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor to The American: Laundry. MachineryGum'- pany-,,Gincinnati,- Ohio, a corporationzofiOhio: Application January 11, 1946, vSerialNo. 640,475

7 Claims. 1;

This invention relates to stretching and drying devices, such as areused for" sleeveless undershirts or like articles.-

Olneobject of the invention is'to' provide a simple andinexpensivedevice ofthis kind which without adjustment or change will'satisfactorily accept and take care of a full range of sizes of garment;which applies the same tension or stretch to each garment; regardless ofits size;

which has no tendency to distort the garment; and

which exposes both surfaces of the entire garmer t to'the effect of thestream of drying air.

Another object is to provide an improved device of this kind which iseasy to load and unload, in which the act of introducing the garmentinto the drying chamber applies the stretching tension, and which isquite compact and highly efficient in operation.

Further objects of'theinvention'in part are obvious and in part willappear more in detail hereinafter.

In the drawings, which represent one suitable embodiment of theinvention:

Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of the complete device on the-line l-|,Fig. 2, and showing the form or garment carrier loadedan'd inoperatingposition;

Fig. 2' is a sectional plan view on the line 2-2, Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional elevation on the line 3-3, Fig. 1;

Fig: 4 is a detail elevation, corresponding to Fig. 1, of the garmentcarrier, showing the. parts in retracted position;

Fig. 5 is a similar View, showing the parts of the stretching formexpanded, just prior to being advanced into the drying chamber Fig. 6shows the same parts moved intov the,

drying chamber, as in Fig. 1';

Fig. '7 is a plan view of the garment supporting parts, in retractedposition; and

Fig. 8'Sh0Ws the same parts, in expanded. position.

Referring to Fig, 1, the device shown in the drawings is in the form ofan upright cabinet, designed to rest' upon the floor, and including aframe housing or casing l0, which may be round, square, or of any othershape, in planview, but is shown in Fig. 2 as somewhat wedgeshape,.provided with a lower heating chamber. H and an upper dryingchamber I2 separated by a horizontal' wall l3 having a central roundopening I4. The bottom of the heating chamber is open at I5- to permitthe flow ofair totheinlet of a fan-or blower l6; usually operatedby anelectric 2 motor (not shown), which blower movesan air stream acrosssuitable heating means, suchas the steam-coils l-l'commuificating'withsupply and discharge pipes I8; I9. Theheated-j air stream thusprovided'i's blown; through" opening l 4', int'o' chamber l2, inwhichittravels-through and along the garment to-be dried, being discharged atthe top'outlet opening 2 0. v

The drying chamber-housing is provided with a hingedfront door 21 andwithin its chamber" supports a curved deflector plate 22 for deflecting'a" portion of the air-stream down over the thicker upper strap orshoulder portions of thegarment to; assist in dryingthem;

Directly below the door opening is located a vertical plate 23, of thesame width as th'e'do'or; and which serves as aclosure for thelower-part of the opening through which the garment supporting" andstretching mechanism is advancedinto the" dryingchamber or retractedtherefrom.

This plate 23 supports a pair of grooved rollers 24"which travel onsuitable tracks or guides 25; Also mounted on-the door withinchamber i2,is arod; 26* carrying a traveler or support 21 which is sleeved andslides on a stationary guide'bar 28 Fittedto'slid'e-on bar is a carriage'29; pro"- vided with atr'avel'er- 3Q, somewhat like traveler 213 andwhich also-slides on guide bar 28;

Secured to the front" end of' carriage 29 is apull' rod' 31 extendingthrough an opening in door 23 and provided on'its outer end witha handleor knob 32. is't'o enable thestretchi'ng'mechanism tobe ex par'ide'dandi contracted andalso advanced into the drying chamber or be retractedtherefrom;

The garment stretching and supporting mechanism includes two or moreparts, movable rel'a'-- tivel'y to each other for stretchingpurposes,and

so ar-ranged as-to -enable the garment, in stretchedcondition; to besupported in the drying chamber, subject'tothe drying effect of the airstream thereir'n. This is accomplished, in the arrangement shown, by theuse of one relatively stationary part, mounted on the door 23', and twoother: movable par-ts, mountedon carriage 2-9;

The stationary part includes two spaced, parallel, upright tubes,post's, rods or bars 3-3 supported'at theirlowe'r ends on brackets '34mounted on' door2-3 and at their'ends having arms'35 extendingrearwardly and downwardly and connected by a horizontal cross bar 36;which is adapted toreceive; support and'hold' the shoulder strapportions3'! of the garmentta shown, as in Figs; 1 and 4'00 8;.

The movable part includes two generally similar The purpose of this rodand knob stream of drying air enters the drying chamber 1 and flows upalong the garment, both inside and The cross bars 4|, at the bends ofarms 43 of said members are inclined, to ease dressing of the shirt onthe form,

The operation is as follows: In the operation of unloading the device,the door is opened, and the knob 32 is grasped and the stretchingmechanism is withdrawn from the drying chamber. When thestretchingmechanism is thus retracted, as shown in Fig. 4, it is entirely outsideof the drying chamber wall, and

the rear arm 42 of stretching member 39 is slight:

ly in advance ofa plane through the vertical rods 33, giving sufficientroom to permit the front portion of an undershirt to be inserted at thetop and drawn down between the stationary and movable stretchingmembers. Therear arm 42 of stretching member 49 is slightly in advanceof and directly beneath the cross arm 36, so that the back portion ofthe undershirt, as it is drawn over the form, will lie to the rear ofmember 40.

, An undershirt to be dried thus is drawn down over the stretchingmembers until it assumes the position indicated by the dot-dash lines inFig. 4, with the stationary member supporting the undershirt by thedraping of the shoulder straps over the cross bar 36.

The operator now pushes in on the knob 32 androd 3|, which first movesthe carriage 29 rearwardly along rod 26, carrying the stretching arms39, 40 with it. Members-39, 49 are maintained'in their verticalpositions by' the eccentricity of rod 3| with respect to the center ofrod outside thereof, with most of the stream deflected downwardly andreturned to the thicker shoulder strap portions, the moisture-ladenstream emerging through opening 20. Thu the garment is quickly andthoroughly dried while held in properly stretched position. When thegarment is dry, door 2| is opened and the rod 3| is pulled out, whichnot only withdraws the carriage and the several stretching members 33,39, from the drying chamber,,.but also releases the-tensionor stretch onthe garment, enabling it to be readily pulled off from the upper ends ofthe stretching supports.

It will be readily observed that the amount of V movement of thestretching mechanism isdetermined entirely by the size of the garmentplaced thereon. At the same time either very small or very largeundershirts, or any intermediate size, can be placed upon and stretchedby the same stretching mechanism, and by the performance 7 of likeoperations, without any variations. 7 When the mechanism is within thecabinet, plate 23 closes the lower portion of the opening,

' so that the full effect of the hot air stream is 26. 'The weight ofthe stretching mechanism is l sufficient to hold the carriage in itswithdrawn position, but as it, is pushed in, resistance to stretchingincreases until the shirt is fully stretched as'in Fig. 8, by therelative motion between the carriage, with its arms 39, 49, and thestationary rods 33. Thereupon further pressure on knob 32 causes thecarriage 29 and the stretching and other parts carried thereby, andincluding also guide bar 26, door 23, and rods 33, to advance as a unit,the garment sliding into the cabinet with no further stretching, untilthe parts reach the positions shown in Figs. 1 and 6, door 23abutting'the casing to stop further movement of said door.

The stretching of the undershirt is accomplished by the engagement ofthe vertical arm 42 of member 39 with the mid portion of the front of,

40 against the resistance of the cross bar 36.

Thus theentiregarment is stretched uniformly throughout. 7

With the garment introduced into the drying chamber in the mannerdescribed, the door 2| is closed. Assuming the fan in operation, or thatitis started, and with heat in.the-coils a secured. r

The mechanism described is of simple form, is

capable of convenient operation, is highly eilicient, and produces aproperly dried shirt without distortion of any part, all at minimumcost.

Further objects of the invention in part are obvious and in part willappear more in detail hereinafter. What I claim is: I r i l. A shirtstretching device, comprising two supporting members mounted forrelative horizontal movement, one thereof being provided with a pair ofvertical posts spaced apart later.-

ally and connected together at their upper ends, the other carrying twoupright members lyingin a plane between said posts and spaced apart foreand aft, and means forrelatively moving said supporting members alongsaid plane.

2. A shirt stretching device, comprising two supporting members mountedfor'relative horizontal movement, one thereof being provided with a pairof vertical posts spaced apart laterally and connected together at theirupper ends, the other carrying two upright members lying in a plane.between said posts and spaced apart fore and aft, and means forrelatively moving said supporting member along said plane, each' of saidupright members being of inverted loop form. 1

3. A shift stretching device, comprising two supporting members mountedfor relative horizontal movement, one thereof being provided with a pairof vertical posts spaced apart laterally and connected together at theirupper ends, the other carrying two upright members lying in a planebetween said posts and spaced apart fore and aft, and means forrelatively moving said supporting members along said plane, each of saidupright members being of inverted loop form and terminating at its upperend below the upper ends of said posts 4. Stretching apparatus of thecharacter described, comprising two supportsmounted for relativehorizontal movement, one thereof being provided with a pair of postsspaced laterally and the other with a pair of posts spaced apart foreand aft, all of said posts being parallel to each other and extendingupwardlyfrom the supports in a directionnormal to the direction of.their relative horizontal movement, and means whereby said supports maybe relatively moved in the fore and aft direction to horizontallystretch an article supported upon said posts.

5. Stretching apparatus of the character described, comprising twosupports mounted for relative horizontal movement, one thereof beingprovided with a pair of posts spaced laterally and the other with a pairof posts spaced apart fore and aft, a bridge member cross-connecting theupper end portions of the posts of one pair, and means whereby saidsupports may be relatively moved in the fore and aft direction tostretch an article supported upon said posts and bridge member.

6. Stretching apparatus of the character described, comprising twosupports mounted for relative horizontal movement, one thereof beingprovided with a pair of posts spaced laterally and the other with a pairof posts spaced apart fore and aft, a bridge member cross-connecting theupper end portions of the ,posts of one pair and lying at a level abovethe upper ends of the posts of the other pair, and means whereby saidsupports may be relatively moved in the fore and aft direction tostretch an article supported upon said posts and bridge member.

7. Stretching apparatus of the character described, comprising twosupports mounted for posts of the first named pair, and means wherebysaid supports may be relatively moved in the fore and aft direction tostretch an article supported upon said posts and bridge member.

GEORGE W. JOHNSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 11,460 Proctor Dec. 25, 18941,791,601 Ramsdell Feb. 10, 1931 1,047,039 Gee Dec. 10, 1912 1,627,529Wigglesworth May 3, 1927 2,321,452 Berger et al June 8, 1943 2,316,001Kitzmiller Apr. 6, 1943 2,299,040 Schwartz Oct. 13, 1942 2,299,041Schwartz Oct. 13, 1942 2,309,659 Prosser et al Feb. 2, 1943 2,241,373Rawlinson et al May 6, 1941 960,937 Imbrie June 7, 1910

